Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 102: Big Purchases Before Price Increase

"I peeled off two pieces of this roe deer skin." Although Halimu had covered the peeled parts with roe deer oil skin, Li Long still said it in advance, "You decide the price."

"It's peeled off? It's a pity." Chen Hongjun frowned, "Where?"

"This, and here." Li Long unfolded the leather and showed it to Chen Hongjun.

"It's OK. The cut is not big. If it was bigger, it would be hard to heal." Chen Hongjun looked at the place covered with skin, turned it over, looked up at Li Long, "I'll give you fifteen yuan for this piece of skin. How about that? If it's not torn, thirty is a sure thing."

"Okay." Li Long smiled, "The price has indeed increased."

After recording the bill and paying the money, Chen Hongjun said:
"Xiao Li, I suggest you go to a department store or a supply and marketing cooperative and buy more of what you need. I'm afraid the prices of these supplies will also go up."

Li Long slapped his head and thought, yes, if the prices of purchased materials go up, the prices of the items for sale will naturally go up as well.

He hurriedly thanked Chen Hongjun, got on his bike and went to the department store.

After taking a quick look, Li Long first bought brick tea, salt, sugar and other supplies for Halimu and others.

Then he saw the Jiefang shoes piled up on the counter and immediately thought of what his elder brother Li Jianguo once said.

When they went to the mountains as a sideline group to dig Fritillaria, they met some herdsmen who said that the Liberation shoes they were wearing were very good and they wanted to exchange a lamb for a pair of shoes.

Li Long thought of Halimu and the others and immediately decided to buy two pairs for each of them.

Halimu's family of five and Yushanjiang's family of four, Li Long estimated the size of their feet and bought 20 pairs of high-waisted Jiefang shoes. This kind of shoes has countless disadvantages - ugly, stuffy, not breathable, etc., but one advantage is enough for herders to like it - strong and durable.

Carrying a large bag of things, Li Long walked out of the department store, unlocked his bicycle, and rode quickly to the supply and marketing cooperative.

Here were all the fishing nets he needed.

"Hello, comrade. Take two each of the two-and-a-half-finger, three-finger, three-and-a-half-finger, four-finger, and four-and-a-half-finger sticky nets," Li Long said, looking at the fishing nets on the counter. "Give me one casting net."

"What size mesh do you need for a casting net?" the salesperson asked. "How tall and long are the seedlings for a sticky net?"

"The cast net needs a mesh of one finger." Li Long wanted to see if he could catch some small fish. "The sticky net needs to be 1.2 meters wide and 100 meters long."

"Seventeen dollars for a casting net, and three dollars and a half for a sticky net, fifty-two dollars in total."

Li Long paid the money - the money from selling deer antlers and roe deer skins was more than enough.

After taking a look at the counter, he didn't find any waders. He guessed that the stock hadn't arrived yet and the other things were not needed in the short term, so Li Long turned around and left the supply and marketing cooperative.

After the ice thaws, it will not be as easy to catch fish as it is to fish from the ice hole. But judging from the current trend, the demand for fresh fish in the city is still quite large.

The best way to catch fish at that time is to use a sticky net, and the money earned is also hard-earned.

But to make money, it is normal to work hard. In this day and age, being able to make money is already very impressive, so what does a little hardship matter?

Riding his bike back to the yard, Li Long began to pack up the two snow chickens.

The chicken is not big, and it would be enough for one person to eat if he wanted to make a big plate of chicken or spicy chicken, but Li Long felt that doing so would be a bit of a waste of food.

After he plucked the feathers from the two chickens and cleaned their guts, he took the chickens and rode his bicycle to the production team.

When he entered the production team settlement, he saw a group of children beating an old cow on the road. From a distance, he saw Li Qiang, who had grown taller, waving a whip vigorously among the children. The extra meals this month made Li Qiang grow a lot taller, and his old clothes seemed to fit him a little bit - in the past, clothes were made bigger so that they could be worn for two more years. If this continued, Li Qiang would have to make new clothes again this winter.

"Li Qiang, your uncle is back, riding a bicycle!" A child with sharp eyes shouted at the top of his voice after seeing Li Long.

This time, all the children stopped caring about their old cows and ran towards Li Long with whips in hand.

There were only two bicycles in the entire production team. One belonged to the team leader Xu Chengjun, who won the first place in the county competition when he was a militia company commander. It was a prize awarded by the county.

The other one belonged to the only old resident in the team, the Zhang family, who had lived there before the production team was established. It was said that they were landlords in the past. According to Li Long's understanding, they had extra money, so they could afford a bicycle.

Li Long, this is the third one.

"Uncle, uncle! Did you buy a bicycle? This one is still new!"

"Yes, Qiangqiang, come in the car, uncle will take you back."

"Okay!" Li Qiang was about to climb onto the car, but he turned around and stepped on the old cow that was spinning at high speed, then bent down, grabbed it and put it in his pocket, wiped his nose with his sleeve, and climbed swiftly to the back seat of the 28-inch bicycle.

Li Long rode his bike home quickly, and a group of children followed him, shouting. When Li Long returned to the Li family, the news that he bought a bike had spread throughout the production team.

"Li Long bought a car? Does he make so much money selling fish?"

"They don't just sell fish, right? They also sell meat."

"A bicycle must cost at least 200 yuan, right? Li Long, this kid, has really turned things around."

"I thought Li Long would be ruined if he was fired, but I didn't expect him to turn things around so quickly - even if he was a worker, he couldn't earn enough to buy a bicycle so quickly, right?"

Some are surprised and envious, and of course some are sour grapes:
"What's there to envy? He just took advantage of the good fishing season in winter, so he caught some. Who will eat his fish when the snow melts in spring? He will have to go back to work in the fields then."

"The more trouble you make, the greater the chance that you'll go to jail! Just wait and see, maybe you'll be arrested before spring. This is speculation!"

Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei were also surprised to see Li Long bringing Li Qiang back on a bicycle. Although Li Jianguo knew that Li Long had obtained a bicycle ticket, he did not expect that he would buy the bicycle so quickly.

"It's inconvenient to carry things when walking, and it's troublesome to rent a carriage every day. The rent alone is not small. Yesterday I went to the mountains and happened to pick up two deer antlers and killed a roe deer. The money is enough." Li Long explained, and then turned to Liang Yuemei:
"Sister-in-law, I shot two snow chickens yesterday. Let's stew them at home today. One for soup and the other for stir-fry. Snow chickens are very nutritious!"

"Can the baby eat it?" Liang Yuemei asked worriedly.

"Yes, I can eat it." Li Long said with a smile, "It's just right for growing up, it's good for nourishing the body, so I can eat it."

As they were talking, there was a commotion outside. Li Long came out and saw that it was Xu Haijun and his friends who came to see the bicycles.

If there is something new in the team these days, someone will definitely come to take a look - just like those sisters-in-law looked at the sewing machines before.

Just take a look, there is nothing wrong to see. Li Long simply opened the lock and let everyone who knew how to ride a bike try it.

"This car is really cool!" Xu Haijun couldn't help but say. Although his cousin has one, he may not be able to touch it normally.

Thinking about how Li Long, who was about the same age as him, bought a bicycle through his own efforts, Xu Haijun felt a little discouraged.

There's no comparison.

(End of this chapter)